2nd Street Cotter Nocturne, Baxter County

2nd Street Cotter Nocturne

8X10, Oil on Panel

Available

 

 

This was the third painting I turned in for the White River Plein Air contest.  I painted it during the night when all of the other contest attendees were attending some kind of social thing.  I hate to say it but I really did not bother to meet or talk to any of the other artists during this event.  As soon as I had my panels marked, I was off and away and I did not really see any other artists until I turned my pieces in.

 

This piece won the First Timers Award.  Looking around at the work of painters who won other awards, I have my work cut out for me if I want to have a chance at winning anything in the years to come.  Lots of really great painters attend this event.

Bank of Pottsville, Pope County

Bank of Pottsville

9X12, Oil on Panel

SOLD

This was a request from a historian of of Arkansas art.  I feel very honored to be in the same collection as some of my Arkansas favorites.

White County Courthouse, Searcy, AR, White County

White County Courthouse

11X14, Oil on Panel

Available

 

 

Arkansas has many gorgeous courthouses and White County's is in my top 10 favorites for sure.

Hollywood and Highland

Hollywood and Highland

11X14, Oil on Canvas

Private Collection

 

 

Another old one from my other blog.  I have been seriously considering redoing this one as a 16X20.  There is a whole lot I really like about this compositionally but it is severely dated in both technique and some drafting.  I think this can be a great painting so I look forward to painting it again once I have completed work for my upcoming show.

Resurrection!

Last year, in preparation for a show at Cantrell Gallery, I pulled a few old paintings from the closet to rework.  I had shown these at one point but then realized they were actually failures.  I decided to start with a scene from downtown North Little Rock (aka Argenta.) It depicts 3 figures waiting at a trolley stop in front of a purple building. I chose the scene primarily because the purple building is a mainstay on Main Street in Argenta. You really can't hardly miss it. The painting was done in January of 2009 so it was 4 years old when I did this rework.  Here is my self analysis and thought process:

  Looking at it, I think it is obvious that my goal at that time was very similar to what my goal would be today if I started this painting from scratch: a loose, immediate vibe with economy of brush stroke.

This first thing I see is that light pole on the left side traversing the entire canvas HAS to go! Secondly, the foliage on the right side needs to either be eliminated or pruned back. Refer to Figure 1.

Figure 1

Before I went any further in my analysis, I went ahead and took about 20 minutes to basically re-mass everything but the figures. I knew something needed to be done about them but had not thought it through much. At this stage, I enlarged the building ever so slightly and fixed some minor perspective issues.

Now I'm confronted with the big question of what to do about the people at the trolley stop. The arrangement as it was painted in 2009 is cluttered. The purple building and the trolley stop with figures occupy almost identical amounts of surface area. The roofline of the trolley stop is perilously close to the same height as the purple building and this severely stunts any verticals in the composition. (Perhaps that was why I hamhandedly included the light pole??) So a critical decision must be made: what is the painting about? Is it about the people or the purple building? I had named it "Waiting on the Trolley" thus making it originally about the people. But if I genuinely want to make it about the people at the trolley stop then I really need to push the building back to subordinate it. However, the building is the reason I wanted to paint this corner in the first place. If I want to make it about the building then I need to subordinate the figures and the trolley stop. Ideally, I would do this by pushing them back in space and further to the right in the picture, possibly even cropping part of the trolley stop. This is the course of action I prefer but there is a critical consideration here. The trolley makes a left turn right beside this purple building so the trolley stop must be clearly indicated as existing in front of that intersection! In painting real locations, one must realize there are important details and not so important details. This falls into the important detail column I think. I could probably achieve the subordination I desire without sacrificing the reality of the location by increasing the presence of the road that cuts left to right across the scene. In effect, this pushes the viewer closer to the curb and might require a slight modification of the perspective of the both the purple building and the trolley stop.

In order to prevent having to do that, I could also shift the near corner of the purple building to the left. This would give the effect of moving the lateral street "back" relative to a diminshed size and location of the trolley stop figures without sacrificing the size of the building.

That's 3 options:

1. Push the building back and keep figures where they are, figures are the focal point
2. Increase the size of the building and street, move figures right and adjust perspective on both, building is the focal point
3. Push building slightly left and figures to the right, should require little perspective change, building or street becomes focal point

Option 1 is the easiest to execute while option 3 will require the most effort. Option 2 falls in between I think. I opt for Option 1. I pushed the building back by reducing it's size and reducing the saturation in the color. After deleting the foliage on the right hand side I realized that this made too much open space and added a crepe myrtle tree further in the distance and much smaller in size.

Waiting on the Trolley

 

Main Street, Westminster, MD

Main Street, Westminster, MD

11X14, Oil on Panel

Private Collection

 

 

I am continuing my efforts to capture the work I have posted in the past on another blog here so that I may shut that other one down.  This is a painting I did last year as a gift for my oldest son on his 18th birthday.  He spent a lot of his youth in this town and still feels a connection with it.



Yellow Building, Downtown Batesville, Independence County

Yellow Building, Downtown Batesville

8X10, Oil on Panel

Available

 

 

This was a fun little painting, playing with all that bright yellow.  This is 52 out of 75 counties!  I still need 8 more to complete my goal before the end of the year.  It's a big task but maybe I can pull it off.  I just got back from a paint camp trip to the southeast corner of the state where I got 6 really solid painting starts.  Two of those probably only need very minor tune ups and they're done.

 

 

52/75

82 Degrees, Bank of Cave City, Sharp County

82 Degrees, Bank of Cave City

8X10, Oil on Panel

SOLD

 

 

 

A few months ago, I made a 3 county photographing trip, including Sharp County.  The town of Cave City sits right on the border with Independence County.  I was stopped in my tracks by the sight of this brand new bank being built here.  One of the things that caught my eye was how this very modern looking building with the large two story all glass atrium had a native stone façade on the front portion that almost perfectly matched the century old native stone storefronts down the street.  I've chosen to focus more on the sign here as I didn't see an obvious way to show how this building melded into the existing street front.   

 

51/75



Flat Iron Building, Eureka Springs, Carroll County, A Show Opening, and a Mountain Bike Race!

Flat Iron Building, Eureka Springs

16X20, Oil on Panel

SOLD

 

 

Here is the last piece that made it into my solo show at Cantrell Gallery that opening last Friday night.  Not a whole lot to say about this one.  It's the Flat Iron Building in Eureka Springs, one of my favorite towns in Arkansas.  Obviously, this building is modeled after the NYC Flat Iron.  If memory serves, this actual building is the second Flat Iron in Eureka.  The first one burned to the ground at some point and was rebuilt.

 

My show opening on Friday night was an awesome success!  I was extremely pleased with the turnout.  There were times when the room was about as full as it could reasonably be!  I apologize to the people I that I know who I wasn't able to say hi to because I was busy talking to other people.  I received a whole lot of support both from coworkers at my day job and the local cycling community.  The cyclists came out in droves to see the show including some who were in town for a mountain bike race the next day.  The opening also made the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Top Ten List of things to do that weekend, coming in at #7!  Wish I could find a link to that.  I was asked about several counties and when I was going to get around to them so this concept is very well received in the local community.  I sold eight pieces on opening night with at least two of them going to a large medical facility.  Yes, a very successful show for me!

 

 

Some of the many fellow cyclists who came out

 

I also followed up the show by doing my first ever mountain bike race the next morning!  That was also a great success except for the fact that I somehow managed to lose my wife's brand new cycling glasses before the race even started.  I got 2nd out of 13 in my class.  It helped that I really knew the trails well.  Check out the writeup about the race from a very popular local outdoors blog, Arkansas Outside!  Looks like I'll be heading back up to Eureka Springs in a couple of weeks for another mountain bike race called the Phat Tire Festival.  I won't be racing this time but I will be taking some pictures for painting references!





Tailgater's, Hope, Hempstead County

Tailgater's, Hope, AR

8X10, Oil on Panel

SOLD

This is a little sports bar in downtown Hope, which as everyone knows is the hometown of former President Bill Clinton.  This place was doing a decent bit of business for the time of day we were there.  That was before the Razorbacks season went into the tank.

The Point Liquor, Fort Smith, Sebastian County

The Point Liquor

9X12, Oil on Panel

Available

Rowdy Beaver, Fayetteville, Washington County

Rowdy Beaver

8X10, Oil on Panel

Available

I believe this building houses a business called the Rowdy Beaver.  At least that's what Google Maps seems to show it's name to be.  None of my pictures showed the business name and when  I lived in Fayetteville there were no businesses in this building.  For those who know Fayetteville, this building is behind the old Depot off of Dickson Street which would also make a fine painting.  And then, of course, there's Old Main on the U of A campus.  I definitely need to do a painting of Old Main.  

Cafe, Sheridan, Grant County

Cafe, Sheridan

8X10, Oil on Panel

Available

Last summer when I went down to Pine Bluff, I made a stop in Sheridan in neighboring Grant County for some picture taking.  I was walking down this side street when I smelled the aromatic fragrance of the tree seen here.  I turned around and took a picture of the tree and the street.  Now, almost a year later, I got around to painting it!

With this painting, I have now completed 38 counties.  This makes me officially over halfway done!

Capital Avenue, Little Rock

Capital Ave.

12X16, Oil on Panel

Available

This view looks down Capital Avenue in Little Rock from the front of the capital grounds.

I have begun very early work on a solo show that will take place next year but I'll talk about that more at a later date.

Dickey Stephens Park, North Little Rock

Dickey Stephens Park

17" Home Plate

The above painting is available for online auction from now until October 27, 2010 at http://jimelder.org/auction/item.php?id=60.  Dickey Stephens Park is the home of the Arkansas Travelers minor league baseball team.  The Jim Elder Home Plate Heroes fund provides money to organizations aimed at providing opportunities to local underprivileged youth.  Other paintings being auctioned can be seen here:  http://jimelder.org/auction/

Helena, Phillips County - An Impromptu Paintout!

Helena, AR

On Sunday, July 10, I traveled east to the very edge of the state and the mighty Mississippi River.  Helena Arkansas was at one time instrumental in the birth of the grandfather of many forms of American music, the Blues.  Helena was the voice of the Blues starting in 1941 when King Biscuit Time debuted.  King Biscuit Time was a radio show which played the Blues exclusively, giving a voice to African-Americans during a time when they were afforded little to none in the popular media, especially in the South.  It was the first of it's kind.  In 1941, in Helena, Arkansas, Southern African-American culture began to be disseminated to the masses.  And the culture of America was forever changed.  One could certainly argue that this was bound to happen somewhere.  If not Helena, then Memphis.  But the simple fact is, it began in Helena.

 Helena was chosen as the subject of the day by Matt Lee, an artist whose acquaitance I had made via the Wetcanvas online artist community.  He also made arrangements for us to meet and paint with the curator of the Delta Cultural Center, Mr. Bill Branch.  We arrived at 10AM and met at the DCC visitor center.  Bill gave Matt and I a tour of their impressive facility.  Not only were the interpretive exhibits of the history of the Blues and the delta top notch, there was also some fantastic art on display from Hearne Fine Art in Little Rock.  After this, Bill gave us a tour of town.  Helena straddles the very end of Crowley's Ridge.  This landform is unique in North America, it a long ridge of fine soil that runs north-south from southern Missouri to the Missisippi River at Helena in the middle of the pancake flat Delta.  When I was in high school, I went on a gifted and talented program which spent 4 weeks touring the entire state.  At that time, the prevailing thought on the formation of Crowley's Ridge was that is was a deposit of windblown loess.  That seems to be in doubt these days as some sources say it as fluvial in origin or possibly that it is rising due to tectonic forces.  I still subscribe to what I learned many years ago, that it is windblown loess.

Helena is a far different place today than it was in 1941.  Most of the industry is gone and Cherry Street (Helena has no Main Street) is populated with ghosts of the past.  Empty store fronts are much more common than those with tenants.  Still, there is something different to Helena than other towns with this same problem.  There's a strong desire in Helena to rebuild the community.  There are thriving churches downtown and more history than you can shake a stick at.  Some of it is in sore disrepair but some of it is being restored.  I would say that the source of this palpable energy is in large part due to the Delta Cultural Center.   I feel that Helena is the front line of a decades long fight against the decay of small town America.   It has had one of the steepest declines in population in the entire country.  If this town can turn things around, then so can others.  With it's rich history, I think they have a chance.

We started the painting for the day on a boardwalk by the river with the US 49 bridge providing a backdrop.  The heat index was probably already well over 100°F.  I set up in what was a smattering of shade that lasted about 15 minutes at best.  We planned on working for about an hour and with that time constraint in mind, I chose a long-view that cropped out all the foreground.  As the sun moved out from behind a few leaves and fell directly onto my palette, the paint began to slump and all but refused to stick on my simply prepared panels.  I found myself wishing I used linen!  I made do, however.

Matt's first of the day

Close up of Matt's first

Bill's first of the day

My first simple little painting of the day

After this, we returned to the DCC for a light lunch and to refill water bottles.  Then it was time to hit Cherry Street and do some urban landscape.  I chose a building with a nice little striped canopy that Matt pointed out.  It was next door to a building with rusted iron features that I thought would also have made a great little painting but I wondered if I could get that in the amount of time I wanted to spend and from across the street where the best shade was.  The building currently houses Gist Music store and is on the west side of Cherry.  The sun was past zenith and cast a nice shadow across the first third of the canopy.  I quickly built my shadows and I'm very glad I did because the shadow on the canopy crept quickly across the full face of it and by the time I was done had engulfed the entire front of the street.  Both Matt and Bill chose much more challenging, full block scenes.

Bill Branch's second of the day

Matt Lee Works on his 2nd of the Day

Gist Music

In all, I'm very happy with the day.  I don't know if I've ever had time to even try to paint two paintings on location before in the same day, let alone make two that I would be willing to show!  My camera has suddenly decided it's done with it's life.  As soon as I get a new one, I'll post the cropped pictures of these completed pieces.

Jefferson County Courthouse, Pine Bluff, Jefferson Co

Jefferson County Courthouse

11X14, Oil on Birch Panel

SOLD

Last weekend I went down to Pine Bluff to paint what I think may be the most striking courthouse in Arkansas.    The Jefferson County courthouse is this marvelous white with a glowing golden painted dome.   While not the most ornate courthouse in the state, it certainly does stand out.  It was built in 1856 and partially burned in the '70's.  I had never been to Pine Bluff before last Saturday.  It is a small town with big city problems and the reputation of the town is well known.  I found a downtown deserted on a Saturday morning.  Almost no business was open and the traffic count on Barraque Street, what should be a fairly major street in downtown, was probably no more than 30 cars the whole time I was there.  Several passed by me more than once.  Only one person came by to talk to me and I only saw one other person on foot.

I set up in the shadow of a building across the street from the courthouse, knowing the blazing hot sun would soon rear up over the top of the roofline and bath me.  I had been hoping to catch the building fully backlit so I could explore some more color in the sky but by the time I got there, the sun was already high enough that no cool sky colors were to be found.  You might could call this a modified Sargent palette.  I used Cobalt blue, yellow ochre, and transparent red oxide which I consider to be in essence the same as what Sargent used for a lot of his architectural work.  He probably used ivory black which can appear very blue when tinted and used alongside warmer colors. 

I struggled mightily with size and perspective in this one.  The color of the shadowed white building also gave me fits.  I should have done it from the eastern side so as to avoid that problem but it's always good to take on a challenge.  There were several moments when I almost gave up on it.

After I had had enough of this one, I wandered about the streets for a while, taking photos.  It was enough to rend the preservationist soul of me.  I could clearly see what the town of Pine Bluff had been and what it still could be.  But the fact I could stand in the middle of Main Street for minutes on end trying to find the best vantage point possible on a Saturday morning spoke volumes for how far this town has fallen. 

As is all too often the case with me, I fell in love with what I could see the town becoming.  I know I'll be back.

Diamond Drive-In, Clarksville, Johnson County

Diamond Drive-In

9X12, Oil on Oak Panel

SOLD

Clarksville is on I-40 and is at the intersection of the Ozarks and Arkansas River Valley.  Just north of town, the hills rise up.  I actually found this place by "driving" around in Google Maps!  The actual photo reference though was taken first hand a few months ago.  It is still in business but was closed the day we were there.  This was difficult architecture to paint!  There are quite a few interesting subjects in Clarksville that I hope I may get to paint one day and definitely some beautiful places in the Ozarks just to the north of town.

I'm trying to work on some larger pieces right now and I hope I can carry this rough yet painterly style over to those sizes.  It has been an achilles heel of mine that my larger pieces do not have quite the same handling as my smaller pieces.  I think they still look like "me" but just do not have what these small intimate pieces have.  I'm also going to try to have 22 counties complete by the end of this month.  Stay tuned and see how I do!

Basin Park from Main Street, Eureka Springs, Carroll County

Basin Park from Main

11X14, Oil on Canvas

Here's another older piece. Eureka Springs is a fantastic little town in the northwest corner of the state. It has quite a few galleries, many of which exhibit very high quality local, regional, and national art. The Basin Park Hotel is a landmark to say the least. We've stayed there a few times and have been on the ghost tour (no ghosts chose to make themselves known to us though). This year we opted to stay outside of the downtown area at another hotel.

I love this composition but my paint handling has improved markedly since this one. By the time this whole project is over I imagine I'll have done a couple more pieces from Carroll County and Eureka Springs in particular.

Rialto Theater, Searcy, White County

Rialto Theater, Searcy, AR

11X14 Oil on Canvas
Available

This is an older piece from 2008 and I've come a long way in my technical skill since this was done but it's still a pretty cool little piece. The car in the front is a Mitsubishi Eclipse and is modeled on one of our cars! I added it after the fact because I felt the piece needed another element in that lower right corner to recycle the eye back up into the theater.

Searcy is a neat little town. Home to Yarnell's Ice Cream, which in my opinion is some of the best ice cream you'll ever find!